Haken Survivor 2023 - Results & Discussion

[The Letter M]

With blessing from fellow board member Elite, I'll be running the Haken Survivor 2023, the first one since The Haken Survivor 2018, nearly five years ago.

To be consistent with Elite's previous Survivors, I'll be using his format from the last Haken Survivor. This Survivor will include the band's seven full-length studio albums and one EP. Their debut demo album will be featured as a fun bonus but will not affect the Finals.

The top two songs from each full-length studio album will automatically advance to the Finals, with third place going to Consolation. Restoration's top song will go to Finals, and its second place song will go to Consolation.

Fourth place songs from full-length studio albums will go to a "Play-Off", and of those seven songs, two will go to Consolation. Of the ten songs from Consolation Rounds, the top five will advance to the Finals, for a nice round twenty-song Finals!

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Aquarius
01. Celestial Elixir
02. Aquarium
03. The Point Of No Return
04. Streams
05. Drowning In The Flood
06. Eternal Rain
07. Sun

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Visions
01. Visions
02. Shapeshifter
03. Deathless
04. Insomnia
05. The Mind's Eye
06. Portals
07. Nocturnal Conspiracy
08. Premonition

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

The Mountain
01. Falling Back To Earth
02. Atlas Stone
03. Cockroach King
04. Pareidolia
05. In Memoriam
06. Somebody
07. Because It's There
08. As Death Embraces
09. The Path

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Restoration
01. Crystallised
02. Darkest Light
03. Earthlings


----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Affinity
01. The Architect
02. 1985
03. The Endless Knot
04. Bound By Gravity
05. Initiate
06. Lapse
07. Earthrise
08. Red Giant
09. affinity.exe

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Vector
01. Veil
02. Puzzle Box
03. The Good Doctor
04. Host
05. Nil By Mouth
06. A Cell Divides
07. Clear

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Virus
01. Messiah Complex
02. Carousel
03. Prosthetic
04. Invasion
05. Canary Yellow
06. The Strain
07. Only Stars

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Fauna
01. Sempiternal Beings
02. Elephants Never Forget
03. Beneath The White Rainbow
04. Eyes Of Ebony
05. Nightingale
06. The Alphabet Of Me
07. Taurus
08. Lovebite
09. Island In The Clouds

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Play-Offs (Top 2 to Consolation)
01. Pareidolia
02. Streams
03. Eyes Of Ebony
04. Bound By Gravity
05. Host
06. Invasion
07. Insomnia

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Consolation (Top 5 to Finals)
01.
02.
03. The Endless Knot
04. Pareidolia
05. The Point Of No Return
06. Prosthetic
07. Beneath The White Rainbow
08. The Good Doctor
09. Deathless
10. Darkest Light

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

The Finals
Celestial Elixir
Falling Back To Earth
03. Atlas Stone
04. Aquarium
05. 1985
06. Visions
07. Elephants Never Forget
08. The Architect
09. Cockroach King
10. Puzzle Box
11. Crystallised
12. Veil
13. Sempiternal Beings
14. The Point Of No Return
15. Streams
       The Endless Knot
17. Messiah Complex
18. Shapeshifter
       Pareidolia
20. Carousel


----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Bonus Survivor - Enter The 5th Dimension
01. Snow
02. Blind
03. Sleeping Thoughts Wake
04. Manifolds
05. Souls
06. Black Seed

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

The Albums
01. The Mountain
02. Aquarius
03. Visions
04. Affinity
05. Vector
06. Fauna
07. Virus

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

-Marc

[The Letter M]

The first rounds for Aquarius and Visions will go up tomorrow morning! Be ready!

-Marc.

[Zydar]

Awesome, I'm in. I didn't realise it's been 5 years since the last time.

[Evermind]

Awesome, prepared to be disappointed again when Sun goes out in the first two rounds of Aquairus survivor.

[Metro]

Yes good

[gzarruk]

Every time I participate in one of these, I forget it keeps going on, but I'll try my best

[Mladen]

I'm only skipping the EP survivor and the bonus tracks, but the rest will be amazing. 

[jammindude]

I’m so in.

It’s rare that we have a survivor with a band where I’m familiar with almost every note (though I might need a refresher on 5th Dimension)

[The Letter M]

For anyone who wants to look at the previous Haken Survivor results, here are the threads to those as ran by Elite.

2018 Survivor Main Thread

2016 Survivor Main Thread

2015 Survivor Main Thread

2014 Survivor Main Thread

2013 Survivor Main Thread

2012 Survivor Main Thread

I'm excited to run this one since I've grown to become a big fan of the band over the years, but the last time Elite ran this survivor, I didn't feel acquainted enough with their music to participate, but now I feel a bit better about knowing their songs! I'm sure by now there are some patterns regarding which songs typically go out first for each album, but I haven't really looked at the past results yet since I want to be surprised as we go along, but after each album, I might try to compare and contrast the 2023 results with previous years.

I hope to see a fair amount of participants for this one! Looks like Elite's previous Haken Survivor averaged around 13-17 voters, so hopefully we see similar numbers!

-Marc.

[Crow]

will be a good excuse to listen to fauna for a third time so i can participate in that round, i guess 
rip the demo but fair

[The Letter M]

Aquarius' Final Round's Results:
Aquarium 10 (83.3%)
Celestial Elixir 2 (16.7%)
Total Members Voted: 12

01. Celestial Elixir
02. Aquarium
03. The Point Of No Return
04. Streams
05. Drowning In The Flood
06. Eternal Rain
07. Sun

"Celestial Elixir" and "Aquarium" automatically advance to the Finals, while "The Point Of No Return" goes to Consolation and "Streams" to the Play-Offs.

We continue with The Mountain, and once Visions wraps up, we'll go on to the two-round Restoration Survivor!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Visions' Final Round's Results:
Shapeshifter 10 (83.3%)
Visions 2 (16.7%)
Total Members Voted: 12

01. Visions
02. Shapeshifter
03. Deathless
04. Insomnia
05. The Mind's Eye
06. Portals
07. Nocturnal Conspiracy
08. Premonition

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Restoration's Final Round's Results:
Darkest Light 10 (100%)
Total Members Voted: 10

01. Crystallised
02. Darkest Light
03. Earthlings

We move on with Affinity, and once The Mountain is over next week, we get on with Vector!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

The Mountain's Final Round's Results:
Atlas Stonev8 (72.7%)
Falling Back To Earth 3 (27.3%)
Total Members Voted: 11

01. Falling Back To Earth
02. Atlas Stone
03. Cockroach King
04. Pareidolia
05. In Memoriam
06. Somebody
07. Because It's There
08. As Death Embraces
09. The Path

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Affinity's Final Round's Results:
1985 8 (61.5%)
The Architect 5 (38.5%)
Total Members Voted: 13

01. The Architect
02. 1985
03. The Endless Knot
04. Bound By Gravity
05. Initiate
06. Lapse
07. Earthrise
08. Red Giant
09. affinity.exe

"The Architect" tales the top spot for Affinity, but both it and "1985" go to the Finals. We now move on with Virus, which is the first time the album is featured in a Haken Survivor!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Vector's Final Round's Results:
Puzzle Box 7 (53.8%)
Veil 6 (46.2%)
Total Members Voted: 13

01. Veil
02. Puzzle Box
03. The Good Doctor
04. Host
05. Nil By Mouth
06. A Cell Divides
07. Clear

We begin the first round of the band's latest album today! Once we reach Fauna's penultimate round and the 4th Place song is decided, we'll begin the Play-Offs Survivor!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Virus's Final Round's Results:
Carousel 7 (63.6%)
Messiah Complex 4 (36.4%)
Total Members Voted: 11

01. Messiah Complex
02. Carousel
03. Prosthetic
04. Invasion
05. Canary Yellow
06. The Strain
07. Only Stars

Once the penultimate round for Fauna goes up on Wednesday this week, we'll start the Play-Offs (a format I've never done before but was done in previous Haken Survivors ran by Elite).

After the Play-Offs will be the Consolation Rounds, which should end near the end of November. The Finals will also start at that time and the first few rounds will be multi-vote elimination rounds as well (20, 16, 13, 11) and then once we hit the Top 10, it'll be single votes from there on out. If all goes smoothly and there aren't any ties, the final round of the Finals should go up on December 21st!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Doing some catch-up for this thread!

Fauna's Final Round's Results:
Sempiternal Beings 7 (77.8%)
Elephants Never Forget 2 (22.2%)
Total Members Voted: 9

01. Elephants Never Forget
02. Sempiternal Beings
03. Beneath The White Rainbow
04. Eyes Of Ebony
05. Nightingale
06. The Alphabet Of Me
07. Taurus
08. Lovebite
09. Island In The Clouds

Play-Offs's Final Round's Results:
Streams 6 (60%)
Pareidolia 4 (40%)
Total Members Voted: 10

01. Pareidolia
02. Streams
03. Eyes Of Ebony
04. Bound By Gravity
05. Host
06. Invasion
07. Insomnia

Consolation Final Round's Results:
Cockroach King 4 (36.4%)
Streams 7 (63.6%)
Total Members Voted: 11

01. Cockroach King
02. Streams
03. The Endless Knot
04. Pareidolia
05. The Point Of No Return
06. Prosthetic
07. Beneath The White Rainbow
08. The Good Doctor
09. Deathless
10. Darkest Light

Bonus Survivor -
Enter The 5th Dimension's Final Round's Results:
Blind 5 (83.3%)
Snow 1 (16.7%)
Total Members Voted: 6

01. Snow
02. Blind
03. Sleeping Thoughts Wake
04. Manifolds
05. Souls
06. Black Seed

We've passed the halfway point of the Finals! Later this week I'll start the Haken Albums Survivor as we wrap this whole thing up!

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

The Albums' Final Round's Results:
Aquarius 8 (80%)
The Mountain 2 (20%)
Total Members Voted: 10

01. The Mountain
02. Aquarius
03. Visions
04. Affinity
05. Vector
06. Fauna
07. Virus

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

The Finals' Final Round's Results:
Celestial Elixir 3 (27.3%)
Falling Back To Earth 8 (72.7%)
Total Members Voted: 11

01. Celestial Elixir
02. Falling Back To Earth
03. Atlas Stone
04. Aquarium
05. 1985
06. Visions
07. Elephants Never Forget
08. The Architect
09. Cockroach King
10. Puzzle Box
11. Crystallised
12. Veil
13. Sempiternal Beings
14. The Point Of No Return
15. Streams
       The Endless Knot
17. Messiah Complex
18. Shapeshifter
       Pareidolia
20. Carousel

Looking back at the results from the previous Haken Survivors, "Celestial Elixir" placed in the Top Two  every time, and was the gold medal winner in 2018, 2016, 2015, and 2014 (the last four Haken Survivors). One other interesting thing to note is how far "Pareidolia" has fallen, having previously ranked in the top 6 consistently in the previous Survivors, and now tying for the bottom of the Finals this time around.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, whether it was every round or just every now and then. I think my next Survivor will be Pink Floyd, starting sometime next month, so please keep an eye out for that soon!

-Marc.

[jammindude]

It was a lot of fun! Thanks for running it, Marc! 

[DTA]

Thanks Marc! This one was a lot of fun.

[Zydar]

Celestial Elixir

Thanks for running this!

[Mladen]

Once again, Marc, tremendous job. 

[Elite]

Even though I didn’t participate at all, thanks for running this!

And Aquarium doing so well is a very welcome surprise